June 5, 2014
Jogger Who Used Anti-Gay Slurs in Attack Turns Himself In
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
An Atlanta man accused of attacking a cyclist, shouting anti-gay slurs, turned himself to authorities Wednesday, Atlanta's ABC-affiliate station WSB-TV reports.
According to the cyclist, Quinn Chrzan, 24, Michael Sanders hurled homophobic epithets before he slammed him into a gate and punched him repeatedly.
"I was pinned against the wall and my hand was sliced up so, there was nothing I could do," Chrzan told WSB-TV. "He just punched me in the face."
He added that Sanders was angry that he was riding too close to him as he ran on a trail.
"Right when I was about to pass him, he just stopped and he looked at me and called me a faggot," he said. "I had no idea what I did to set him off."
Chrzan used his cell phone to record Sanders, which allowed police to capture stills from the recording.
"(He) kept calling me homophobic slurs and all I said to him was, Please don't use homophobic slurs,'" Chrzan said.
Soon after that, Sanders turned around and attacked him, Chrzan says.
"There's a bunch of witnesses," he told the news station.
The attack was captured on Atlanta Police Department's Video Integration Center cameras as well as on the cameras of a bike shop.
Chrzan says he does not identify as gay but was offended by the slurs. Atlanta Police Department's LGBT division is investigating the attack.
"They were trying to figure out if it was a possible hate crime," he said. "They're not sure since it didn't seem like he was targeting me."
Sanders, who turned himself into Atlanta police Wednesday, was charged with battery but released Thursday morning on $5,000 bond.
The incident occurs weeks after two transgender women were attacked on a Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority train.